Family of missing fashion scion Missoni holds out hope he is alive

A Venezuelan rescue boat searches for signs of a missing airplane or six people who were aboard, including Italian fashion scion Vittorio Missoni.

By Reuters

The family of Italian fashion executive Vittorio Missoni said on Monday they still believed he was alive, three days after his plane disappeared off the coast of Venezuela, and begged rescuers to find him.

The small twin-engine plane carrying Missoni, 58, his wife Maurizia Castiglioni, another couple and two Venezuelan crew members went missing on Friday after taking off from the resort of Los Roques, an archipelago off the coast of Venezuela.

"We believe Vittorio, Maurizia, Elda and Guido are still alive!" Missoni's sister Angela wrote on Twitter. "Please help us find them and bring them back home."

Italy's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on how the search for the missing plane was progressing.

Italian media have suggested that Missoni, his wife and their friends Elda Scalvenzi and Guido Foresti may have been kidnapped.

"I saw them right in front of me as they were swallowed up by a huge cumulus cloud," pilot Enrique Rada told Turin daily La Stampa in an interview published on Monday. "It was a lightning bolt. It must have been a lightning bolt."

Rada told La Stampa he was contacted by the control tower advising him of the plane's disappearance shortly after he saw it enter the cloud. He said he tried to make radio contact with the plane's pilot, German Marchan, but could not do so.

Missoni is the oldest son of the founders of the fashion house famous for its exuberantly colored knits, featuring bold stripes and zigzags. He is co-owner with siblings Luca and Angela, who handle the technical and design sides of the firm.

A decision about whether Missoni will go ahead with its Milan fashion show scheduled for Sunday will be made soon, a Missoni spokeswoman said on Monday.